I went to my new dentist today for the first time. The first thing the dental assistant did was take 17 x-rays inside my mouth. Then the dentist looked at the x-rays. And damn. I have 10 crowns in my mouth and 8 of them have cavities under them! I couldn’t believe it. I brush twice a day, almost every day, I get my teeth cleaned 4 times a year. It don’t make sense.
I told myself to trust this dentist. In my own personal experience, if you’re on Medicaid or Medicare, I don’t get the best doctors or the best treatment, I learned this long ago but lately it’s gotten way worse. One example is that my GP was supposed to refer me to a specialist to get scans done on my kidneys. A prior scan showed something was wrong with one kidney but I needed another scan.
Due to errors, laziness, maybe ignorance and just not caring instead of getting my ailing kidneys looked at in three weeks, it took the help of an advocate to get them done and it was only after 7 months. It was crazy. Due to her other errors, I was supposed to get 10 free visits to the physical therapist for my back but my GP didn’t fill out the proper form and I came close to missing out on free physical therapy. And I could go on…
The reason I bring this up about my GP is because today the clinic is part of the same agency but it’s way across town and I told myself I would trust this dentist but my poker face failed and she saw I didn’t trust her. But 8 cavities! And actually, I may need a root canal too.
I’d get a second opinion. I went to a dental school. They told me I had 9 cavities. I had 4 of them filled. Then I found some reasonable dental insurance. Then I went to a regular dentist. He told me I had none. I’ve had a few cavities at one time. But I’ve never had 9 cavities at one time. That’s a huge red flag. I’d never go back to the dental school. You can get in trouble performing unnecessary dental procedures on somebody. That may not be necessarily what’s going on. But it was really weird that I could get such a difference of opinion. I’ve read reviews of dentists online
It seems this stuff happens to other people.
Yeah, good answer. I have an appointment with my regular dentist next week. I was going to cancel and just stick with this new dentist but after reading this I think you’re right. I’m going to keep the appointment and get his opinion. I mean apparently I have 8 cavities but I have no pain. That seems odd right there.
I forgot to mention that when I lived in Arizona. A dentist there told me I needed four crowns. You know how much that is? That’s big $$$. I never went back to that dentist. The dentist out there were notorious for wanting to crown everything. It was all about money. Needless to say in my home state where I currently live no dentist here has ever told me I needed a crown. That was like 14 years ago when that happened. I still currently have no crowns in my mouth.
I sympathise as I have lots needing me to be done on my teeth too. Two extractions. Various cavities. A possible bridge put in. It’s a nightmare. I feel for you.